An Aquatic Center At The Marina

(In light of the news that , Patch blogger Craig Williams writes about one step the city can take.)

With so much talk in the media about the obesity problem, maybe we should think about an Aquatic Center for the Marina.

Newark has one called the Silliman Center and I can attest that it draws hundreds of families on the weekend and kids love it. I used to bring my son and his buddy there about 10 years ago and getting them to come out of the water was one of my biggest challenges once there.

The facility has several pools with a giant slide and numerous child safe aquatic play features.Given the health crisis facing our society and our kids, focusing on their concerns and not the business class may be in our best interest.

Not to mention that building offices in a high vacancy rate commercial property market doesn't make sense. And the idea of a business  convention center is only a cesspool for business tax write-offs which the  average taxpayer has to eventually make up. 

If I were king for a day I woud also build a amphitheater on the Marina as well. What better way to spend a warm summer night than listening to great music or taking in a play or other performances under the stars by the bay. 

If I could stretch my luck I would throw in a beer and wine garden, featuring local micro brewers and wineries. Featuring micro breweries from other parts of the Bay Area may also bring some of their patrons to San Leandro.Beer gardens have always been popular with working people because generally you would bring their own food which translated into a fairly inexpensive night out.

I also think that it might be able to advertise to the incoming flight passengers with some sort of solar sign system pointing to the sky, featuring  Marina Square. If the people in the flight path aren't getting any satisfaction from the Airport maybe we can at least draw some business from the people landing Oakland.There's plenty of land along side the golf course that could be used and the solar sign could pay for itself in no time with sales tax revenue generated by the sign.

An Aquatic Center with dynamic architecture could also  become a major landmark on the bay. Numerous other countries have built Aquatic Centers and Museums along the shoreline of their countries which are stunning architectural buildings as well as being major attractions .

So many kids suffering from being overweight primarily because the processed food industry sees them as commodities. With more and more science going into techniques of triggering our taste buds there is a conspiracy against our kids by sugar, salt and fat by the evil science of processed foods. We need to put our children first before corporate developers as well as a food industry which will ruin lives and bankrupt our health care system.People who don't think they're attacking our children and our families are kidding themselves.

I encourage San Leandro parents to drive 10 miles or so down to Newark and see for yourself why an Aquatic Center is in our best interest.

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